xxx Finaly, chaper 12 is here! and so is the moment we have all been waiting for... xxx


Four days had gone by since Morgana's attack, and Camelot was officially at war with Mercia. Apparently, Mercia had been planning war for a long time, but after finding out Camelot had a potential witch on their side, they knew they would stand little chance of winning. However, everyone knew that the witch was powerless, defenceless for the time being, and that's why they decided to remove the problem before it was too late.

After the Mercian messenger had departed from Camelot, the preparations for war had begun. Of course Arthur had tried every tactic to make peace with Bayard, but had no success.

However, the news of war had very little effect on Merlin, besides the constant knowledge that he should be by Arthur's side, like usual, helping him in any way he can and protecting him from harm. He knew that when the war came, he would have no choice to leave with him, he had to, it was his destiny and even if it wasn't, he couldn't let anything happen to him.

But then there was the small problem of Morgana, the women that was at this moment sat by his side and leaning her head on his shoulder. They were sat at her table like they had been the past three days, studying magic.

The first day Morgana had taken to it with so much enthusiasm, Merlin thought he could sit there forever and teach her, just to see that beautiful smile and inspiring burst of energy she had when she was getting everything right, thinking of ways she could use that skill to protect the kingdom. She listened intently to every word that came out his mouth, watching his every move with those enormous, emerald filled eyes, and the way she pursed her lips together when concentrating sent his mind spinning off to wonderful new places.

And then came day two. Day two wasn't a bad day either; however it wasn't a very effective one. Morgana's interest wondered off after maybe an hour or two, and it wasn't long before a pillow was thrown at his head and they were both on the floor on opposite sides of the bed, throwing as many harmless objects at each other as possible. Morgana was the first one to run out of ammunition, (since Merlin was able to keep magicing up pillows,) but that only led her to pounce over the bed and wrestle him to the floor, attacking him with her fingers until he admitted defeat.

They crashed not long after, completely wiped out of energy.

And now it was day three.

"Merlin."

"What?"

"I'm bored."

This is what day three had become; a living hell of Morgana's annoying questions and moaning. When silence wasn't killing them both painfully slowly, Morgana would be asking: "What does this do?" or "How many times have you done this?" "Do you think I could ever do that?" "Has studying magic always been this boring for you?" and other irrelevant questions like that. And now she was leaning on his shoulder, (probably struggling to stay awake,) and muttering the obvious.

"If you're bored Morgana you can always tidy up since the room is in such a state from last night."

Morgana's head flew off his shoulder at this, and she gave him a horrified look.

"Why on earth would I do that? That's your job." Morgana huffed while crossing her arms defiantly.

"One, I'm not your servant Morgana, and two, what was that you were saying last week about being independent now?"

"I'm hardly independent when I'm cooped up in hear all day with you!"

"Ooh, touchy." Merlin mocked with a fake, hurt expression on his face.

Merlin watched as Morgana's back suddenly straitened, and a pleased look washed over her.

"I just had a brilliant idea!" Morgana beamed excitedly before hoping out of her chair.

"Not again…"

"Shut up Merlin and come on!" She exclaimed while grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the chair.

"Where are we going?" Merlin asked nervously, trying to stay up right with Morgana's frantic pulling on his arm.

"I don't know! That's what makes it fun!" Morgana replied with a mischievous smirk.

Merlin pulled Morgana back from the door by the same hand that was dragging him across the room, and turned her to face him.

"You know Arthur said we're not allowed to leave the castle…" Merlin said wearily.

"And you always do what Arthur says do you? I never pictured you as Arthur's bootlicker…"

"I'm not Arthur's bootlicker!" Merlin protested.

"Good. Then come on then!" Morgana replied with another tug on his arm, pulling him out the door in no time.

"I'm not your bootlicker either!" Merlin argued back in a hushed tone since they were now in the corridor.

"Whatever you say Merlin." Morgana whispered back, pushing them flat against the wall before checking the coast was clear in the next corridor, and then dragging him quickly across it so they weren't seen.

Merlin vaguely remembered doing this when he was about ten with Will, sneaking around Ealdor pretending they were spies, and either ambushing his mum, scaring a poor rabbit to death or attempting to knick a cabbage from the farmers garden, (they always got caught and chased by the farmer's wife with a broom.)

And now he was being dragged around the castle by Morgana, hiding from everyone like they were criminals even though they weren't actually doing anything wrong by wondering in the corridors, but at least Morgana looked like she was having fun. Well, fun wouldn't really be the right word for it, she more seemed like she was on a mission and even though she said she didn't know where she were going, there was not an ounce of hesitation when it came to which corridor to turn down next. Her hand was still clutched tightly to his like he might try and escape, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as he might of thought being dragged around by someone who has obviously momentarily lost the plot would be.

It was only when she took a right turn and began running down those stairs that lead beneath Camelot, did he start to panic. Those stairs only led to two places, if they turned left, they would be at the vaults, if they turned right, they would be at the top of that long staircase that led to the underground cave that used to be the dragons prison.

They turned right.


"Morgana, we shouldn't be down here." Merlin whispered desperately as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and entered the cave that he was so familiar to.

It seemed like a life time since he had been there, standing right where he was now, holding a torch like he was now and alone like he wasn't.

"It's not like we're breaking the rules, technically we haven't actually left the castle and it's not like there's a huge dragon down here that's going to jump out and eat us!"

Merlin watched Morgana in astonishment as she pulled her high-heel shoes off and chucked them on the ground behind her.

"You can't be serious? You're not really thinking of going down there are you? It could be dangerous!"

Morgana merely tutted at him and lifted the ends of her purple, velvet dress, and made her way down the small staircase that led to the bottom of the cave.

"Where's your sense of adventure Merlin? Left it in your room along with your comfort blanket?" Morgana mocked while peering up at him from her point on the stairs, and gave him an expectant look.

With a sigh, Merlin reluctantly began to follow her down the stairs.

"It's not a comfort blanket. I just like it because it's really warm." Merlin shot back once he was just behind Morgana on the stairs.

"Yeah, because that's the kind of blanket you want during the middle of summer." Morgana replied sarcastically.

Merlin scowled at the back of her head while clenching his hands into fists. This was stupid. What could have possibly possessed her to want to come down here? After all, it most definitely wasn't attractive, in fact it smelled a bit, and all that was down here was a tone of rock.

"You never know," Morgana started once they reached the bottom, "We might find some rare objects like a dragons tooth or a scale or…"

"Or a giant clump of dragon poo, yes, very appealing…" Merlin finished while trying to keep up with her fast pace.

"You are such a pessimist Merlin." Morgana insulted from over her shoulder, before coming to a stop for him to catch up, (he did have the torch after all.)

"That has been said. However I always get proven right in the end…"

"What do you know about the dragons?" Morgana asked quickly.

Merlin came to a halt at her unexpected question and nearly tripped over a rock.

"Nothing much, just that Uther had them all killed during the great purge, and now they are extinct, why?"

"You don't really believe that do you?"

Merlin didn't know what to reply to that. Was she implying that they weren't extinct? Because the only people that knew differently were him and Gaius, so why would that thought cross her mind?

Mind you, Morgana was a powerful sorceress, and she did found out about Emrys, so maybe she does know about the dragons after all.

"Believe what?" Merlin asked, feigning ignorance.

"That the dragons are extinct." Morgana said simply, clearly not seeing the weirdness in her question.

"Don't you?" Merlin quizzed; eager to find out what the hell she was getting at.

Suddenly Morgana crouched down and started padding the ground.

"It's wet." She stated.

"Well there is a giant hole in the top of the cave. It's probably just rain water." Merlin replied flatly.

"No, like I've already pointed out once today, it's the middle of summer, there is no rain…"

"Well it is a dark, cold and shabby cave, it's not warm enough in here to get rid of it…"

"The dragon must have had water to live," Morgana interrupted while getting into a stand and snatching the torch out of Merlin's hands, "There must be a water supply or something down here."

Why on earth did Morgana care about water? This was just getting ridiculous. Who would have thought that he would be following Morgana who was following a stream of water that yes, it was inevitably getting bigger the deeper the further into the cave they went, but still, it was just water, not interesting in the slightest.

"Do you see that?" Morgana whispered while pulling him closer; since when was he holding her hand again?

"See what?" Merlin whispered back.

"There's a light up ahead…come on!" Morgana said enthusiastically.

"If you tell me to come on one more time…" Merlin whispered under his breath.


For what seemed like hours they wondered deeper into the cave, following the stream of water, (which was now more like a river,) that Morgana was so fascinated with. They had been in the cave so long that the torch had gone out a while back and they were now relying on his magic to light the way.

Merlin had tripped a grand total of three times, and also managed to trip Morgana once by accidently standing on her dress, which earned him a half-hearted whack on the back of the head, before she trudged on like nothing had happened.

"My feet hurt." Merlin moaned for the second time in the last hour.

"At least you're wearing shoes." Morgana replied while hoping from one rock to the other.

"That's because I wasn't stupid and took then off before venturing into a cave which obviously had rough ground." Merlin shot back.

"If I didn't take them off I would be covered in blisters by now."

"As opposed to cuts and scrapes up to your ankles?" Merlin asked in a mock-sweet voice.

"Quit your complaining…"

"I'm thirsty."

"Magic-up some water then."

"Magic water tastes vile."

"Go and drink from the water we're following then."

"It could be contaminated."

"Well then I suggest you stop talking because it seems like you won't be getting any water for a while!" Morgana replied; more than a little irritated.

"For all we know it could be dark already and there could be a patrol out looking for us!" Merlin continued to moan.

"Go back and leave me here then…"

"No…"

"Then shh… were almost there now anyway."

Morgana quickened her pace making it harder for Merlin to keep up. Where the hell was she getting all this energy from?

Merlin suddenly crashed into something and fell to the floor with a loud moan as his elbow collided with a rock. It was only when a hand was placed in front of his face did he realise he had walked into Morgana.

"Clumsy." She said with a laugh.

Merlin took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. He wasn't surprised in the slightest by how easy it was for her to do so.

"What's with the sudden stop?" Merlin asked while clutching his elbow.

Merlin watched through confused eyes as Morgana began to undo the laces at the back of her dress, and dropped it to her ankles with little effort as it slid off her silk, lilac under-dress.

"We're here." Morgana replied simply.

"Where?"

"At the light you idiot."

Merlin was abruptly pulled into focus at the sight of Morgana about to dive into the water. His arms shot out like a flash and were wrapped around her waist, pulling her back from the water.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at!" Merlin scolded as he maintained his hold or her waist, surprised that she wasn't trying to struggle; at the moment.

"There's obviously daylight on the other side of this wall, all we have to do is swim under it and were there!" Morgana replied excitedly.

If Merlin had a free hand, he would be smacking his forehead with it. The girl had gone mad! He could understand her need to get out the castle, but not if it might result in death!

"Are you out of your mind? You have no idea how deep it is, there could be man eating sea creatures in there or the wall could be too thick and you would drown before you reached the other side!" Merlin shrieked, panicking himself with all the different thoughts of how this could end badly.

Morgana turned her head to look up at him with an amused look on her face, eyebrows raised.

"Man eating sea creatures? You read too much Merlin." She teased with a ridiculously endearing smile on her face.

Merlin gave her his most dis-pleased look he could muster up, and released her slowly.

"We're going back." He ordered with crossed arms, almost daring her to defy him.

"Fine." Morgana huffed as she snatched her dress from the floor and began to storm of. She waved her arm at him, signalling him to move; he did.

It wasn't till he heard the loud splash behind him, did he realise what an idiot he was. He turned round sharply and saw the dress crumpled at his feet, and no Morgana.

"Morgana!"

Merlin ripped the jacket off his back, (While murmuring curses under his breath,) and dove into the water after her.

The water was a surprisingly comfortable temperature, and eased his aching body more than any bath could. If it wasn't for the fact that he was underwater and chasing a mad woman, he could have probably relaxed there for a bit.

The stretch of cave that went out towards daylight wasn't as long as he assumed, but long enough to make him panic. He couldn't see Morgana, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. And was she really going mad or was this some sort of clever plot to try and escape? Not that she was even a prisoner really.

He hit the open water on the other side of the cave with a large gasp, calling out Morgana's name between large intakes of air. He registered a hand clutching his arm, pulling him sideways, and let himself be dragged through the water and up onto a ledge. He flopped onto the ground on his back, and began rubbing his eyes back to clearness.

"You followed me."

Merlin pulled himself up onto his elbows and tried to focus on the figure standing above him.

He didn't know why he was surprised to see Morgana, considering she was the one he was following, but if she was trying to escape, she was going about it all wrong.

"Yes." Was all Merlin could manage to say before sitting up sharply and spluttering out more water; clearly he needed to get some swimming practice.

"I hoped you would." Morgana replied while patting him on the back and then pulling him to his feet.

"Oh, isn't it beautiful Merlin?" Morgana said as she took in their surrounding's in awe.

It was indeed beautiful, almost like a dream. The healthy grass beneath their feet stretched out for miles, blanketing the hillside. The trees on his left were the tallest he'd ever seen, and almost all of them spurting juicy fruits and harmonious flowers. The water they had just emerged from had turned out to be a beautifully clear lake, stretching out in front of him until it eventually thinned out and came to a stop near the end of the cave.

There was no denying that this place hadn't seen man in a very long time, a world hidden behind Camelot, (in fact Merlin couldn't see any signs of Camelot at all,) and he felt somewhat privileged to be there.

"I could stay here forever." Morgana gasped out as she went to her knees and settled down on the grass.

Merlin instantly dropped down beside her, his head pillowed in his arms and his eyes fixed on Morgana, and the way the sun that shinned brightly above them ignited her glistening eyes and radiant smile…and the small beads of blood dripping from her head.

"You're bleeding." He said as he gave her a concerned look and rose to her level.

Merlin swiftly untied the damp neckerchief from his neck and carefully dabbed it against the open wound on her head.

"The stitches must have come open from the force of the water." Merlin concluded.

Morgana didn't flinch back at all, only stared at him, a fondness in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"I never pictured you as a nature kind of person." He said conversationally.

Morgana's eyes flickered down to the blades of grass that she was idly running her hands through, and smiled to herself.

"Maybe I just haven't had the chance to really, appreciate, the beauty of things recently." Morgana replied with an adorable snigger, but Merlin could see the slight pain that washed over her features.

"Well, it's never too late for change." Merlin replied as he placed the neckerchief on the ground and stared up at the sky.

"Tell yourself that everyday do you?"

Morgana's eyes locked on his as she waited for an answer, and Merlin tried desperately not to push the long lock of hair that waved in the wind behind her ear… and failed. His warm hand wiped across her smooth skin, grazing her hair with the back of his fingers before placing the stray strands of hair behind her ear, and dropping his hand to his knee.

"Sometimes twice a day." Merlin said with a smile, which only grew wider when Morgana burst into laughter and fell into the grass.

She propped herself on one elbow to face him as he settled by her side.

He didn't know how long they stayed there, but he did know that she was happy, (the constant smile and fiery blue colour of her necklace was a giveaway,) and he was most definitely happy.

When he decided the sky had turned dark enough, he reluctantly got to his feet, wiping the odd pieces of grass off his trousers and then helped Morgana up also.

"Can we come back again?" Morgana asked hopefully.

"Sure, maybe next time we can bring a picnic and practice some magic." Merlin replied sarcastically, which only gained him a heart-wrenching frown from Morgana. "Do you really think I'm going to let you jump back through there? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Not my fault you're in bad shape." Morgana argued back as she waltzed over the edge of the lake.

"I'm not in bad shape, and I didn't mean a heart attack because I was drowning or whatever…"

"I know…you were worried about me." Morgana replied in a near sing-song voice.

Merlin took a deep breath to stop himself from arguing back, (even though she was right.)

"The point is, I don't want you doing it again." Merlin said calmly.

"Oh but it's amazing here and it's private and it's…"

"Dangerous." Merlin butted in before she could get too carried away.

"But you can fix that." Morgana stated determinedly.

"What?"

"With magic."

"But I can't just…"

"Please…" Morgana begged, and yes, she was actually giving Merlin the puppy face, (likes that's going to work.)

"Fine." Merlin huffed out.

He took a few steps closer to the entrance of the cave, made a big show of cracking his knuckles, stretched out his left hand and took a deep breath.

"Ic ábíetee pæt stánhol."

Suddenly the rock surrounding the entrance to the cave began to crack and crumble into the water, leaving behind a perfect arch shape.

Merlin crossed his arms smugly and turned to see Morgana's reaction.

"Have I ever told you you're amazing?" Morgana asked as she jumped into the water.

Merlin quickly dived in after her, and waited for Morgana to stop faffing with her hair to give his answer.

"No." He replied while spitting water out of his mouth.

"Ok, just checking." Morgana said with a giggle, and grabbed his hand to pull him under the water.

They swam side by side until they shot up in the newly formed archway of the cave for air. Morgana took one more look back at her new favourite place, and then started to retreat backwards into the cave, holding onto Merlin's hand to help keep herself afloat.


It was dark by the time they returned to the castle, and relatively harder to sneak back to Morgana's chambers. When they reached the corridor to Morgana's chambers, they stopped sneaking completely, both of them extremely tired, hungry, and thirsty.

"I think I'm going to collapse right here." Merlin moaned.

"Don't be such a girl, it should be me that's complaining."

"I didn't see you giving me a piggyback through a giant stretch of cave." Merlin scoffed as he rubbed his aching arms.

"Who would have believed that you would be such a gentleman Merlin." Morgana mocked with a giggle as she used Merlin's arm to drag her along.

Suddenly, Arthur turned into the corridor and began to head in their direction.

"Arthur." Merlin whispered in a panicked tone as he pushed Morgana into the nearest alcove.

"Merlin…what are you doing loitering in the hallway?" Arthur asked before looking Merlin up and down. "Wait, why are you wet?"

"Not good, not good…" Merlin thought to himself as he tried to come up with a descent lie. "Think, THINK!"

"I was carrying buckets of water to Morgana's chambers because she wanted a bath and I tripped and spilt water all over me…"

"Of course you did." Arthur said in a very believable tone. "Where's Morgana?" He then asked quickly to prevent Merlin from retaliating.

"In the bath." Merlin replied in an obvious tone.

"Right, and that's why you're in the corridor."

"Yes."

"Good."

Arthur walked away cautiously, not taking his eyes of Merlin until he rounded the corner. Merlin heard Morgana give out a huge sigh of relief when he was gone, and he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room.

"No wonder you kept your secret for so long Merlin, is he always that gullible?" Morgana asked between fits of laughter.

"Pretty much." Merlin replied while running his fingers through his hair.

"Although a bath does sound quite appealing right now…"

"No way, there is no way I'm going to be lugging buckets around at this time of the night! Especially when I can't even feel my arms right now anyway!" Merlin protested.

Morgana fell onto her bed and laughed into her pillow.

"I'm only messing with you. You're so funny when you're all stressy." Morgana teased before throwing a pillow at his head.

Merlin quickly dodged the pillow and laughed as he retreated to his bedroom. He paused at the doorway and both of their amusement quickly died down.

"Good night, Morgana." Merlin said with a smile.

"Goodnight Merlin." Morgana replied with a friendly nod.

Merlin's eyes flashed golden and the lock from the bedroom door snapped into place, locking them both in, and then he hesitantly walked backwards to shut his door.

"Oh, and Merlin." Morgana called back just before the door shut properly.

Merlin peered round the door and stood silently.

"I had a really nice time." Morgana said while rising from the bed to collect her nightdress.

"Me too." He replied, and then shut the door.

Merlin let out a deep sigh and began to undress, and then began laughing to himself when he realised, the item of clothing he would always take off first, his neckerchief, was gone, left behind in paradise.

He peeling the wet jacket and top from his back and replaced it with a comfortable night shirt, (convinced both he and Morgana would probably have a cold in the morning,) slung on his night trousers and flopped into bed, prepared for a long, well-earned rest.


However, sometime in the middle of the night Merlin's hopes of a decent sleep were shattered, when the sounds of screams and a burning feeling in his chest quickly woke him for the second time that week. The pain wasn't as bad as the previous time, but the fact that he now knew what the burning feeling meant, terrified him more.

He shot out of bed and was out the door in a flash, only to see Morgana crumpled up in her bed and clutching the blankets tight.

"Morgana?" Merlin asked carefully.

Merlin placed himself on the edge of the bed and her arms were instantly around his waist, pulling his close as she cried into his shoulder.

"It's ok, it's ok…" Merlin soothed, his hands now around her also, one of them smoothing over her tangled locks. "What's wrong?"

This caused Morgana's grip to tighten and her cries to get increasingly louder.

"Morgana?" Merlin tried again, only to receive a vigorous head shake against his chest.

Merlin pulled her away by her shoulders to look at him, and held them strongly in desperation.

"Morgana, I can't help you unless you tell me what the matter is." Merlin said desperately.

"He's, h-he's coming for me!" Morgana cried out before she tried to shake of Merlin's hands.

"Who? Who's coming for you?"

Merlin hadn't realised how fast his heart rate had become, a near equal match to the terrified girl in front of him.

It didn't matter that it had only been nearly two weeks that Morgana had been back, proving that she can be the person she once were. Merlin has seen a side to her that he had never laid eyes on before, a side to her that was beautiful and happy, and a side that was fragile and needed to be nurtured and protected. And he knew that whoever was after her, he would protect her with his life.

"Merlin, He's going to kill me!" Morgana shouted at him, taking hold of his shoulders as well and digging her nails in hard like she was in some kind of agony.

"Who!" Merlin asked again, fighting back the urge to wince at the newly forming pain in his already aching arms, and trying to focus on getting through to her.

Morgana's eyes were locked on his and frozen open in fear, he mouth opened but nothing came out several times before she took a deep breath of air, trying to find courage that had been momentarily lost. Her nails dug further and further into his numb flesh, as she prepared to speak the name of the man who haunted her mind.

"Emrys!"


xxx Well, here we are, the climax of the story. Any thought's for this chapter or what might happen next?

Next chapter should be up by next week. If you see any mistakes please let me know so i can fix them xxx